85: Cycle Breakers

In this episode of "This Week in Bitcoin," Chris Fisher analyzes recent economic news, including the Federal Reserve's decision to cut rates and its plan to purchase Treasury bills, assessing the potential impacts on inflation, affordability, and the Bitcoin market. He critiques the government's handling of economic messaging and explores the concept of "baby quantitative easing." Fisher also covers the launch of 21, a competitor to MicroStrategy, and debates whether the traditional four-year Bitcoin cycle is still relevant, referencing insights from Cathy Wood and Lynn Alden. Additionally, he discusses a new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP110) and a controversial soft fork proposal called "the cat," which aims to address UTXO spam. The episode also touches on the CFTC's pilot program allowing Bitcoin as collateral and debunks a critique of Bitcoin from a former crypto developer, reinforcing Bitcoin's role as a solution to economic challenges. The show concludes with listener Q&A and network status updates.